labrasett

I have just asked for expedition of receipt of my cruise tickets for Barbados to Lisbon in three weeks time because I am heading off early next week to Quito to go to the Galapagos and following Galapagos I am travelling over to Barbados to pick up the Dawn. I believe the authorities in Barbados can often require sight of departure arrangement tickets out of Barbados at the time of arrival!

I have a medical condition which requires that I ensure I dont get cold! In the Adriatic I wear a shortie wet suit and I am fine, going to Galapagos? I have a long wetsuit, bootees, gloves and hood plus rash suit for underneath. Not snorkelling is not an option in my book, adaptation is key to comfort and in my case provides accessibility, so a very expensive holiday and needing to spend just a few tens of pounds/dollars for the gear to ensure I can get full enjoyment. Do it, folks, just do it if you think you might be cold. If you find the provided shortie wetsuit is enough then so be it but you have a comfort of knowing that you can wear a long and complete coverall if necessary. The trip is too good to be spoilt by not spending just a few dollar more and maybe having to adjust packing to make space.

A group of passengers (22) have just gone off a ship (sorry I cant immediately find which one or where she was docked) and gone to Bhutan for three or four days and will then rejoin the ship in Singapore

I love the Chronicles, bedtime reading and building anticipation for the following day. I also like the daily news which on my last two trips has been available at various venues around the ships but delivered to our door after request to the butler.

"Nominal charges" have got lost in the post covid flight price increases, I venture to suggest that the SS webpages have not caught up with reality!

Bear in mind that most fares are cheaper per sector when they are purchased as returns. I decided to do our own flights for Galapagos because we were going to stay on and go to Machu Picchu and stay in Peru for a few days. I booked our flights with KLM a good time back and they were really inexpensive in BC. With Machu Picchu not a runner at the moment I decided to fly across South America and pick up the Dawn from Barbados back to UK. I looked at seeing if I could claw back any monies from KLM for an unused return flight but I note that the price of a one way fare in BC from Lima (which was what I have booked) is now more than the price of my original return reservation so I am probably not going to do anything more than advise KLM I shall not be travelling or maybe I will just "no show" for return. I suppose there may be the possibility of a return of airport fees and charges if I do have a conversation with KLM but I suspect any potential refund would be subject to an admin fee which would eat up any possible payment in any event. I am actually pretty content with the finances overall.

I am with you there but I hate pictures of peoples food anyway. While this is not a flattering picture of the meat it does look like a really good piece of steak, just too too raw.

I have recently (couple of weeks back) made a fairly last minute booking on the Dawn in March. I was able to book the excursions I wanted bar one so I waitlisted. The trip is a 4x4 trip into the middle of Madeira so I didnt really hold out much hope of getting a cancellation come through and even if one did then it seemed to me I would probably be well down the wait list with the cruise being relatively imminent. I logged into my computer tonight to find an email from SS saying they were putting on an extra 4x4 excursion and they had added it to MySilversea for me and would I let them know if I no longer wished to do it. Do I wish to do it? The icing on the cake for a recovery cruise from the disappointment of having Machu Picchu cancelled post Galapagos and therefore finding myself in South America in no rush to get home. Sailing from Barbados to Lisbon seems like just the right sort of consolation for missing MP this time around.

I think it is a no brainer, take the meds with you and do the 18 day trip, Antartica is wonderful by South G is unbelievable.

Sorry I didnt understand your reference (Nh Sbc). If you had said OBC I would have understood, I too would be reverting to SS and insisting on the reallocation of the credit in your shoes. Actually for me I wouldnt have minded mine being an OBC as there is one "paid for" excursion on the excursions schedule which I wish to take and the credit would have covered it.

I dont understand your problem. You cancelled and rebooked and SS charged a fee which you can recover against a new future booking. I did the same recently, cancelled my booking on a cruise "down under" in 2024 from a door to door (without air) rebooking to the same cruise and even the same cabin but on the 20% off pre payment p2p basis and saved myself some £2000. I am quite happy to relinquish £400 (£200 each) by way of admin fee which has been transferred into an FCC. I will for sure book a future cruise and am waiting for the full list of itineraries for 2025 before I do so and am comfortable knowing that I have £400 in hand towards the next reservation.

We are travelling to Quito and on to Galapagos the week after TiTi and we have planned a Macchu Picchu extension (not with SS) with a couple of additional days in Peru. I am "keeping the faith" and believing it will all happen it is still weeks away and things can change really quite quickly, hopefully in this case change for the better.

....... and there are lots of couples where curiously one gets the dreaded pox and the other doesnt and you have absolutely no idea why!!!

Look at the shiptoshore webpages to assess sizing of boots etc. You dont need "thick" socks if you get the rental boots, they are extremely well insulated and warm so just one pair of socks such as you would wear with light hiking boots will be fine. I am a really "chilly mortal" and I have never been cold on an Antarctic expedition.

I dont believe there is a laundry room on Origin, there is a laundry service via butler but no "do it yourself".

For anyone in UK ....... you should know that Tiki is currently on special offer £3 off per bottle in Waitrose!!

Well I emailed SS last weekend and said to my consultant that there was no huge urgency my trip isnt until 2024 and I am aware that the new offer will probably have caused many future cruisers to review their arrangements plus the recent unrest in Lima has probably caused some disquiet amongst those currently due to go. Sooooo I got a response from consultant yesterday morning, he explained the downsides of repricing which would necessitate a cancellation and rebooking an obviously at the lowest price no refund for subsequent cancellation but that I could go ahead if I wished and he would action any such request. I confirmed I wished to go ahead, I have already paid for a non refundable Indian Pacific Train fare and will be booking my flights in a months time (cheapest 350 days ahead) so I am confident we will definitely be travelling. The upside is a refund of circa £2,100 but with a £400 admin fee for cancellation which will convert to an FCC so is not actually lost. A real win win and very effectively and efficiently executed. I have kept my choice of cabin (rebooked) but have had to re-enter my excursion choices which was no big deal. I was planning on doing my own flights anyway because I wish to stop in Singapore on the way south to have tea at Raffles and then fly on to Perth to see the Quokkas on Rottnest Island before joining the Indian Pacific train. There seem to be several cost effective airline routings so I shall set about that at the end of January.

You wish 😂

Following your earlier posts when you were concerned about packing it seems you followed the various pieces of advice and did very well indeed with minimal stuff and you were fine. Presume you had a wonderful trip too. 😀

I have asked SS to review my 2024 trip and to reprice it to reflect the new p2p plus additional discount pricing. I have been paid up for this trip for a considerable time having failed to get to Oz/NZ now for three years due to covid then inability to dove tail a cruise with an available "great train ride" in Oz and have finally managed to book Indian Pacific from Perth to Sydney followed by Sydney to Auckland cruise only to find that SS are now offering a much lower price for the cruise. I dont want to faff with a cancellation and rebooking and have simply asked to be repriced to reflect the latest offer. I am awaiting response.

If you are moderately mobile you will absolutely fine, we have done several expedition trips to the deep south and have seen the crew help really quite immobile people get on and off the zodiacs, they are incredibly skilled at providing just the right help to ensure that most people can do most of the activities most of the time. We are in our mid 70s and on our last trip (March this year) we did decline one zodiac trip on a particularly cold and rough water afternoon but this was after an earlier trip out when we had got cold and wet and with the added rough sea we decided not to head out again but to stay in the warm for the remainder of the day. I suspect boarding and disembarking arrangements may be better on Endeavour than on Explorer and Cloud (the ships we have done expeditions on) making it even easier. Do not be put off you are both age appropriate an almost certainly ability appropriate too. Take heed of the advice to ensure you have good gear (waterproof over trousers are good) and good footwear.

Would you please keep a running commentary going as to your future travel plans so we can plot our own lives avoiding your choices!!!

Leaving passport with SS means they can get immigration processing done as soon as the ship arrives, in some places this can take place before the passengers are even out of bed. You can always fetch you passport if you think you will need it ashore or ask for a photocopy which will be willingly supplied.

Cant make out from thread where the Dreams Hotel is, there is reference to the MO but also the Dreams. So the hotel staff didnt speak perfect English (or much at all). You are half way down the South American continent where they speak Spanish, while education and lifestyle have improved greatly in Chile in the last half century it is still a fairly poor country. There are few places in the world where the waiting staff speak perfect or even very much English. It is all part of travel. Getting from the airport to the hotels in Santiago is quite easy even independently. A taxi is not that expensive and if people dont have a cruise company transfer it is not rocket science to google ahead of time and find a company which can arrange a private cab or even email the hotel ahead of time and ask them for a recommendation. Wishing you a wonderful trip.

Yes of course, just dress tidily.